A Mammoth Week for the Garden Project!

The Pictures Tell It All!

So much has happened this week.

Saturday saw our fisrt working day witha a great nband of volunteer parents coming in and helping.

 The Chicken shed was finished. It has to be one of the grandest chicken coops out there

 Our original garden got a good going over. It has now been cleared, ready for new crops to be planted

 A group of hard workers built a retaining wall in the new garden area.

.A finally we had our tool shed constructed.

Monday saw the arrival of the 12 chickens. There was a lot of excited children as they finally got to see their chickens after such a long time of waiting.

It didn't take long for them to seetle into their new home. We haven't had any eggs yet but it shouldn't be long to wait.

Then on Tueday and Wednesday, 7A finally got to do what they had been waiting so long for.

They were able to get down and get dirty and build the Pizza Oven. And what a job they did.

With  their teacher Mr Isele, 3 parents and  the local member of parliament, Mr Darren Grimwade helping, they worked at mixing the clay and straw, layer a brick base and finally decorating the oven to their own design. At completion thay have made an oven that they all shoupld be very proud of. I'll let the photos do the talking.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Have a look at the progress that has been made with the chicken run. The structure is completed , all we need now is for the fencing and some interior decorating to be done before the chickens arrive.

The gardens that were planted at the end of March are going well, now that we have some fine sunny weather.

In the kitchen we have now had all the Tupperware delivered. Thank you to megan from Tupperware and also to all those parents that supported us by buying their products.

There will not be an update over the holidays, but once we are back I should be able to post photos of the existing gardens and the progress made on the new garden area.

Until next blog,

Enjoy the break and stay safe

Ross T

Great news! Finally we are up and running for 2012.

Welcome back to all those people who have been reading last years blog, and hello to all the new readers joining us.

I know it has been a long time since the last posting, but the project has been going from strength to strength in the blog's absence.
To quickly bring you up to date on what has been happening.

Since getting the funding from the Stephanie Alexander Foundation we have been busy redesigning our gardens and where they are being placed. This means that we will have far more garden space than originally planned. the main garden is also closer to the kitchen, so the children will have better access to their fresh produce. the wood fired pizza oven will also be surrounded by the garden. in this garden we are using a garden system developed in Peru. It gives a higher yield from each garden bed, it is easier for the children to access each bed and drastically reduces the amount of water used. we will  not need to go to extra expense to put in an irrigation system.

In the kitchen we have now installed the majority of kitchen utensils required. We were very lucky to have Harris Scarfe Morayfield come on board as a supporter of this project and they have outfitted the kitchen with all the small electrical appliances and the hand operated ones such as the pasta makers, mandolins, mortar and pestles, etc. Without their backing we would have not been able to have this equipment. 
Tupperware also had a successful day at the the kitchen on Tuesday. from the sales that were made on the day, we will be able to purchase some great storage containers for the pantry.
We are also in the process of purchasing 60 aprons for the children to use.

The chicken run is finally under construction, hopefully if the rain holds off we will have the enclosure finished before the Easter break. After the holidays we will finish off the coop and install the chickens.

as mentioned earlier, if the weather stays fine, we will have the chicken run finished and we will also have more garden beds in place.

Until my next update, take care and stay happy!

Ross T

Walk To School Thursday

What a great morning we had on Thursday. Over 300 children made the decision to get up a couple of minutes earlier than normal and walk to school. On arrival there was a great breakfast spread waiting for them.

With the help of a keen and hard working staff we managed to serve juice, bircher muesli and breakfast muffins loaded up with baby spinach, tomato, bacon and melted mozzarella cheese

I have had so many requests for the recipe, from children, parents who were there and staff,  here it is.
The one thing about all the food was that I chose two two dishes that children will be able to make themselves at home. Of course when it comes to heating up items in the oven, it is important that there is adult supervision to ensure the safety of the children.

This is what the children had
Bircher Muesli  
             2 cups of vanilla yogurt   ( I use yogurt that I make myself. If you haven't made your own, its worth giving it a try)
             2 cups of rolled oats
             1 cup of milk
             1 handful of dried apples (diced)
             For those that don't have a nut allergy, add a handful of mixed nuts.

 mix all of this together in a large mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
  I then put this bowl in the fridge overnight.
When serving  put fresh bananas, blueberries or whatever fruit you would like with it. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and that's it ready to eat.

Breakfast Muffins

            1 English muffin split
            Basil Pesto  (warning : this can contain nuts)
            Baby spinach leaves
            tomato
            bacon  (cooked and crispy)
            Mozzarella cheese

Layer all the ingredients on the muffin in the order that they are written. Leave of the pesto if anyone is allergic to nuts. Place on an oven tray and heat in the oven until the cheese has melted and gone golden brown.
Carefully remove from oven and enjoy while hot.

Finish this off with a glass of fresh juice and you have had a great easy breakfast to start the day.

To other things happening around the kitchen garden this week.

On Tuesday we are having a visit from the Stephanie Alexander Foundation. They are coming out to have a look at what we have in place and discuss what we have planned for the future.
The year 6 classes have been studied the scientific properties of yeast in their science lessons. They are going to start to make different types of bread so they can see first hand what yeast does to both the appearance of bread and its taste.
We are also starting to see some volunteers from our 2 community partners, Seed Savers and Perennial Poppies come on site and start to work in the gardens.
So as I said, we have had a busy week and more to come.

Until next week,

Stay safe and enjoy life

Ross T

      

First up, my apologies for not updating the blog for a couple of weeks.  People from the school community will know that the last couple of weeks have been very hectic preparing for the annual concert, then we went into our spring vacation so the blog was put aside.
Even though this was going on, the garden and the kitchen did not get neglected.


We have spent time re-arranging the hale bales into their final gardens and staking up the tomato plants and thinning out some of the other crops.
Spinach is ready to be cut and the snow peas are coming along well. The carrots are almost ready to pick.

There are plans already to extend the size of the garden. We are looking at having a second garden, that will be a dedicated vegetable garden.

As crops are picked in the existing garden, that area will be devoted to herbs, flowering crops and ornamental vines such as gourds that can be grown and children in the lower school will be able to use them as musical instruments

In the kitchen we had two solid weeks of cooking with the Year 5 French classes and the Year 6 Japanese classes.

The Year 5's spent their time cooking crepes and sitting down and enjoying eating their results. These classes were the first to use the kitchen on mass and the end results were extremely pleasing.
The  facilities and the layout of the kitchen worked better than our expectations. With 28 children and 7 adults in the space, there was no feeling of being cramped or overcrowded.

The Year 6 children cooked Sushi the following week. This had more preparation time and was more complex to assemble, but the children really showed how talented they are and made some very good looking sushi rolls. They made two types, one was a ham and cucumber and the other was a chicken, mayo and lettuce.

All this wouldn't have been possible if we didn't have the support from our parents, both mums and dads, who came in and helped the children. Thanks to all of you.

Next week we have the pizza oven arriving. We are building a secure lockable area to place it. We are hoping to start the construction of both in week 4.

For those people that are reading this and not in contact with members of the school community, the other piece of great news is that the school applied for, and received a $60,000.00 grant from the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. (If you would like to read more about the Stepahanie Alexander Foundation go www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au ) This grant is run in conjunction with the Queensland Government and is to be used over the next 3 years to get our gardens and kitchen fully established and the program integrated into the Burpengary school's curriculum.

Until next week stay safe and enjoy life,

Ross T

Our Gardens Are Up and Growing

What a great day the kids of 7B and I had on Wednesday. Bunnings at Morayfield came out to the school with a truck load of plants and equipment for our garden.
The kids had worked really hard assembling the 4 garden beds that Bunnings had already donated to us. We had those in place and filled with soil ready for planting. As Jenny and Josh (from Bunnings) came in we noticed they were carrying another 2 garden beds. It didn't take long for a couple of children to get those assembled and ready for planting.

"I think this joins to this?"

Almost finished.

We've finished.

Once that was done, the children were keen to get planting. Bunnings had brought along gloves for each child, hand trowels, diggers and forks. The first bag opened had the kids turning up their noses, they had discovered what blood and bone fertiliser smelt like. Once they had spread that throughout the beds, Jenny and Josh spent alot of time explaining to the children how to transplant all the seedlings without excessive stress. Depth to plant and distance between plants was explained as well. The children really worked well and planted out all the varities and then labelled them.

The final things to do was carefully cover all the garden beds with a layer of mulch then water all the seedlings.

All the children were pleased with their great work and have organised a roster system for the class to keep up a good water suply and make sure they keep the gardens weed free.

Jenny and Josh helping erect the garden. 

Working hard to move the soil.

Last load.

Working on the beds

Carefully planting Chives.

There was one garden bed left unplanted. On Friday 7C came into the garden and have planted this with seed potatoes. They are using a no dig method of growing these, so they will be constantly monitoring the growth of them and covering the new stem growth with new mulch and soil.

Again a big thankyou must go to Bunnings Warehouse. None of this would have been possible if it were not for their outstanding support.

One of the finished beds

What a Great Week for the School

This week was a special one for all the school.

Our first piece of  good news was that two community groups have formed a partnership with the school to add their vast knowledge bank to our garden project. Both Seed Savers  and Perennial Poppies are very active in the propagation and preservation of heritage vegetables, herbs and flowers. These groups have offered their support in both knowledge and "hands on" activities to our children. This will mean that we will not only have extra hands to help us, but we also be able to access their facilities and workshops.

It is great to have these two groups working with us. This makes the the project a true community effort.

The second great thing was that the children finally had access to both the kitchen and the senior library. Thursday saw most of the year 5,6, and 7 classes have a tour through the facilities. Instead of me talking more about it, I'm putting some more photos up and some of the children's comments. These were given to me at the end of the day on all sorts of pieces of paper and notes.

I think their comments say it all.

"I can't wait to start using the new kitchen with the amazing kitchen equipment and to eat what we cook."  Shei

"I think the new kitchen is awesome. I'll finally know how to cook."  Tamika

"I can't wait till I get to be a BSS cook. It's going to be so much fun. The building looks awesome."  Kelsie

"The kitchen is totally awesome! I love the huge ovens and I can't wait to start cooking. Just imagining cooking is soooo exciting! Let's hope we can cook cupcakes."  Liv

" I think the kitchen is foodtastic!"  Mac

                        'Kitchen's great, looking forward to cooking. I can't wait for the cooking to start. I'm so excited, It's fantastic!  Brodie

"When I saw the kitchen I was pleasantly surprised. The kitchen looks great and I think the builders have done a good job."   Weng

I think the school is on to a winner with this project.

Until next week,

Stay safe and enjoy life.

Ross T